Monday, February 16, 2004

Recall that Croteau (irony of ironies: did I mention that "croteau" means "cut" in French) is charged with the 1987 death of 16-year-old Sophie Landry who was stabbed 173 times.

Hey jury! Let me make it easy for you...

SHE WAS STABBED 173 TIMES!!!!

So what could be holding up the jury? That's easy: utter confusion courtesy of the Judge. It turns out that - thanks to Superior Court Justice James Brunton - jurors are unaware that Croteau is awaiting trial on multiple charges of sexual assault, forcible confinement and robbery involving 10 other females age 10 to 18.

Brunton deemed this information prejudicial to the defendant.

Oy vey! With judges like this, who needs criminals!

Also, Justice Brunton disallowed testimony from profiler, Marc Lepine (No, not that Marc Lepine, in another irony, the Surete profiler shares the name of one of Quebec's most prolific murderers).

So what does the jury have to go on? Not much. That a girl was found stabbed to death with the defendant's sperm inside her. Defending attorney, Marc Labelle, has argued that Croteau might have raped her, but it doesn't mean he killed her. This might make sense except for the fact that in the matter of the other assaults:

- All of the victims were teenagers.

- All of the victims were assaulted on the South Shore of Montreal

- They were all found in isolated areas

- A knife was used in each incident.

Also, Croteau's m.o. is well established: he works alone; his pick-up line is usually of the, "hey, kid, can you help me find my lost puppy?" ilk. If Croteau raped Landry, then he most likely killed her too; there wouldn't have been a buddy around to blame.

Despite these points, Justice Brunton ruled there was not enough proof of a connection between the Landry murder and the sexual assaults.